In French mechanical treatises of the nineteenth century, Newton’s second law of motion was frequently derived from a relativity principle. The origin of this trend is found in ingenious arguments by Huygens and Laplace, with intermediate contributions by Euler and d’Alembert. The derivations initially relied on Galilean relativity and impulsive forces. After Bélanger’s Cours de mécanique of 1847, they employed continuous forces and a stronger relativity with respect to any commonly impressed motion. The name “principle of relative motions” and the very idea of using this principle as a constructive tool were born in this context. The consequences of Poincaré’s and Einstein’s awareness of this approach are analyzed. Lastly, the legitimacy and significance of a relativity-based derivation of Newton’s second law are briefly discussed in a more philosophical vein.
...More
Article
Bruce Pourciau;
(2020)
The Principia’s second law (as Newton understood it) from Galileo to Laplace
(/isis/citation/CBB715090012/)
Article
Maltese, Giulio;
(2000)
On the Relativity of Motion in Leonhard Euler's Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000740281/)
Article
McLaughlin, Thomas;
(2004)
Local Motion and the Principle of Inertia: Aquinas, Newtonian Physics and Relativity
(/isis/citation/CBB000641016/)
Chapter
Maltese, Giulio;
(2006)
On the Changing Fortune of the Newtonian Tradition in Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB000774503/)
Article
Janiak, Andrew;
(2010)
Substance and Action in Descartes and Newton
(/isis/citation/CBB001221446/)
Chapter
Huggett, Nick;
(2012)
What Did Newton Mean by “Absolute Motion”?
(/isis/citation/CBB001500345/)
Book
Gillispie, Charles Coulston;
Pisano, Raffaele;
(2013)
Lazare and Sadi Carnot: A Scientific and Filial Relationship
(/isis/citation/CBB001213195/)
Article
Bordoni, Stafano;
(2013)
Routes Towards an Abstract Thermodynamics in the Late Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001320791/)
Article
Bordoni, Stefano;
(2012)
Unearthing a Buried Memory: Duhem's Third Way to Thermodynamics. Part 2
(/isis/citation/CBB001250989/)
Article
Coelho, Ricardo Lopes;
(2013)
On Hertz’s Principles of Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB589146351/)
Article
Joshua Eisenthal;
(2021)
Hertz's Mechanics and a unitary notion of force
(/isis/citation/CBB462268539/)
Chapter
Pierre–Michel Vauthelin;
(2017)
Duhem et la thermodynamique française de la fin du XIXe siècle
(/isis/citation/CBB074154000/)
Article
Amílcar, Martín Medina;
Gouzevitch, Maxime;
(2008)
Aux sources de la thermodynamique. Le mémoire sure “la force expansive de la vapeur” du Chevalier de Betancourt et du Baron de Prony
(/isis/citation/CBB001021142/)
Book
Capecchi, Danilo;
(2014)
The Problem of the Motion of Bodies: A Historical View of the Development of Classical Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB001551071/)
Chapter
Papanelopoulou, Faidra;
(2008)
The Emergence of Thermodynamics in Mid-Nineteenth-Century France: A Matter of National Style?
(/isis/citation/CBB000760632/)
Book
J. B. Shank;
(2018)
Before Voltaire: The French Origins of “Newtonian” Mechanics, 1680-1715
(/isis/citation/CBB213401894/)
Article
Papanelopoulou, Faidra;
(2006)
Gustave-Adolphe Hirn (1815--90): Engineering Thermodynamics in Mid-Nineteenth-Century France
(/isis/citation/CBB000651497/)
Book
Clarke, Bruce;
(2002)
Energy Forms: Allegory and Science in the Era of Classical Thermodynamics
(/isis/citation/CBB000201326/)
Chapter
Pietro Cerreta;
(2017)
Mach, the Principles of Dynamics and Newton’s Bucket
(/isis/citation/CBB036183229/)
Book
Hoffmann, Dieter;
(2008)
Max Planck: Die Entstehung der modernen Physik
(/isis/citation/CBB000831692/)
Be the first to comment!